Sally has Sundays off and most of Mondays too. It works out
for the best. Sundays are for kicking around the house anyway: reading the
paper, maybe some croissants and coffee. It isn't quite breakfast in bed though
considering that AJ made the newspaper and croissant run with Rosie while she
made coffee and juice... then the two of them would climb back into bed and
spend the morning just catching up with each other and the rest of the world
from a safe distance-- reality could wait one more day.

The big surprise of the stadium request to the planning board
was starting to build steam with the letters to the Editor in the Herald. Skye
had actually taken the unprecedented position of not only putting a selection of
letters in but also counting all of the letters and their positions. "Everyone
is evenly split." Lydia tells AJ reading from the editorial page. "Or nearly
so-- forty, forty and 20 percent undecided. The pros seem to be all about the
team the nays all about the taxes and the undecided mentioning both."

AJ nods absently. He is reading the sport page to see what the
editorial comments are there. There is more about the rookie sensation finally
signing his contract than about the stadium. "I can work with that. Dara and Gia
are going to start taking some speaking engagements around town. Educational
stuff. Really hit the economic pluses-- jobs from groundbreaking to actually
running the place. What?" AJ sees Lydia just looking at him.

"You just sound so... sure."

"I'm an expert at sounding sure." AJ says wryly. "It's
a political thing. Or an alcoholic thing that has crossed over. Either way. The
Stadium is easy though since Beecher's Corners has already contacted the team
manager's office. There is no downside for me on this one but I would like Port
Charles to have the benefit."

Lydia searches thru the newspaper until she finds the about
town section. On the front page of the section is the Grand Opening of the Chloe
Morgan Park down on Courtlandt St the following week. There is evidently going
to be live music and other entertainments. "Your Grandmother's park is having
it's grand opening next week."

"Good-- maybe Dawg will get busy on the back yard finally." AJ
counters.

Lydia flips a page and doesn't know if she comment on it or
not. "AJ..."

"Yes?"

"I think you should look at this." Lydia hands AJ the paper.

AJ looks at the announcement in the paper. A announcement of
the upcoming wedding of Jason Morgan to Courtney Matthews. Not even Courtney
Matthews Quartermaine. The wedding is going to be held at Queen of Angels. Good
to know. Make sure they are nowhere around that weekend since the wedding is
basically happening in their back yard. "Not unexpected considering Courtney was
sleeping with Jason before the divorce papers were even filed." He hands it back
to Lydia.

"Are you okay?"

AJ forces a laugh. "I don't have the right to be upset. I
married Courtney... hell I got engaged to Courtney with the plan of trading her
for Michael. I fell for her after we were married and by then the marriage was
already heading for the rocks. Not my finest hour. Courtney was looking for
Prince Charming and I'm not."

"But your brother is?"

AJ shakes his head. "That seems to be the consensus. Do you
want an introduction? There is still time... they aren't getting married for a
couple of weeks."

"Does he give foot rubs?"

"Never to me." AJ answers wryly.

"Then I'm afraid he isn't what I require." Lydia shrugs and
then taking a deep breath, shares the news that has been preying on her nerves.
"Besides I believe he is too late. I will probably be married by then."

AJ wrenches the paper out of Lydia's hand and throws it off
the bed onto the floor. Then he cups her face staring at her as if expecting
some change... maybe a magic tattoo across her forehead proclaiming that she is
pregnant. "Are you sure?"

"No."

And that is when he sees the fear in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know anything about babies, about children. What if
I'm a horrible mother? What if I screw this up? What on earth was I thinking?
That this baby would protect us from Helena-- make her leave us alone. Who is
going to protect this baby from me?!"

"Us." AJ hugs Lydia close. "How long have you been holding
this one in?"

"I realized when you left with Rosie to get the paper. I was
making coffee and saw the Calendar that Sally has in the kitchen. That's when
everything became... real. I should have waited until I took a test." Lydia
starts to pull away.

AJ stays her with a stroke of his hand down her arm. "No, I'm
going to be here every step of the way. I know you're freaking, Lydia. Even
though we planned this. And I know you have issues being an only child
and your parents being gone...."

Lydia interrupts not wanting there to be any misunderstanding.
"They were never there, AJ. My parents adored each other and saw nothing but
each other. I was just a tagalong long before they were killed in that boating
accident. By the time they died I wasn't even a tagalong... my grandfather put
his foot down after they ran the sailboat aground on Cassadine island. There was
a horrible row. He told them they were damn fools and planning on killing
themselves with their adventures they should at least make sure I was safe. I
was shipped off to boarding school the next day. I think my parents were
relieved."

Taking his time with his answer, AJ continues to stroke
Lydia's back and side. "I don't think we're going to have that problem, Lydia.
We're both so focused on not repeating what we hated about the way we were
brought up-- we're probably in more danger of spoiling the kid rotten. That and
making sure one isn't favored over the other or compared to the other. And even
in that I'm getting ahead of myself... believing that Michael is going to be
involved in this baby's life."

"He will, AJ." Lydia vows. "This baby is going to know that
he's not alone. That he has family, a big brother-- grandparents, great
grandparents. Sweet potatoes or yams?"

AJ laughs. "Excuse me?" Then he realizes what Lydia is doing
and gets serious. "No. Damn it. Don't put that kind of pressure on yourself,
Lydia. I want you to understand this... my family is never happy. Never. You
could give them the perfect Thanksgiving every year for as long as they live and
the most you are guaranteeing is that maybe they'll be happy for a couple of
hours that day and it's a long shot at that. I want this baby to know
what I found out way too late... to be... confident and self assured and not let
the Quartermaines hold the mirror to whom he is. All I need for a perfect
Thanksgiving is you-- I don't care if we have pizza or turkey or rack of lamb.
As long as we're together, our family, it'll be perfect."

"This is the first I've heard about rack of lamb. Where in the
hell am I going to get rack of lamb in November?" New Zealand!

"You're missing the point."

"No, I'm not." Lydia leans back into AJ and wraps her arms
around him. She closes her eyes and lets his warmth surround her. "What next?"

"We get married. Today if I can arrange it."

"But we don't know for sure."

"I do."

Lucky knocks on the door of the apartment over the Outback.
Liz appears frazzled when she answers the door. "You okay? Still having problems
keeping things down?"

"I want something but I don't know what I want." Liz complains
plaintively. "I've already gone thru everything in my kitchen and nothing is
quite right. I've been thru the Outback kitchen even tried some vegamite that
they had around for anyone crazy enough to try it from the menu. I think they
keep it as a bet or something."

"Well can you give me a clue..." Lucky suggests.

"Pickle ice cream. No, a pickle ice cream sandwich on
saltines."

Lucky swallows hard. Liz's morning sickness might have left
her but if she kept talking like that he might develop a case. "Elizabeth, I
don't think that is one of the Thirty One Flavors."

"You're supposed to be laying low." Lucky blocks the door. Liz
glares at him. "Okay, I've got something... exotic in the truck. I was going to
give it to Lulu but maybe it will work. It's about as weird as a pickle ice cream
sandwich."

"Just wait here. Try the stuff I have in the truck and if that
doesn't work I'll go out and get you the fixings for a pickle sundae." Lucky
runs back to the truck and pulls the li hing mui that he'd saved for Lulu. He
figured that if Tasha liked it then maybe Lulu would too. He brings the package
up to the apartment. "Here. Nik got some of these for Penny."

"Is she pregnant?"

"Not that I know of. Just homesick. These are evidently a
childhood delicacy. Penny nibbled on them and then when she started to see the
seed just started sucking on them." Lucky opens the bag and offers Liz one.
"It's not pickle ice cream but at least I know where to find this stuff."

Liz suspiciously nibbles on the small dried plum and then pops
the whole thing in her mouth. "Oh that works. What are these again?" She asks
around the plum that she has tucked into her cheek like a squirrel storing nuts.

"Soon to be in short supply." Lucky hands the whole bag over.
"And don't tell your doctor who gave them to you. I'm sure they'll freak on the
amount of salt in those things."

Liz tucks them into the pocket of her jacket and goes into the
living room of the apartment and collapses on the couch that had been a midnight
delivery from her studio. Luckily there aren't any other apartments around...
just commercial properties that with the exception of the Outback closed after
six. There hadn't been anyone around to question the pickup or delivery. "I
thought you were going to stop by yesterday. I haven't seen you since Friday and
then you were working in your office until I crashed... what time did you leave?
3am?"

Lucky kicks right by her. "Four. And then Nik showed up at
Kelly's at 9. I could have killed him. Easily."

"Nine on a Saturday morning?" Liz is aghast.

"That was my thought too." Lucky looks around the apartment.
It's a lot more space than Liz had in the studio or even what they'd had in the
apartment over the motorcycle shop. Liz would probably start on the murals soon
to fill up the space. Course the kid couldn't sleep on a mural. Maybe some of
the things from the attic at his Mom's. She'd put everything up there after she
remodeled into what he'd started to think of as her White Period. Should have
known then that Mom was going crazy. "You wanna work on a wish list for this
place?"

"You've already done so much, Lucky. I couldn't ask you to do
that. I can't afford for you to be doing that." Although maybe I can go back
to work now that I'm not hurling.

"One-- you didn't ask, I offered. And Two-- I'm not planning
on spending any money-- this is going to be making the absolute most of your
creative talents-- I figure with your Grandmother's garage, my Mom's attic, and
Bobbie's basement this place will be whipped into shape in nothing flat. And
whatever I can't get there..." Lucky shrugs.

Liz sighs. "I guess a bed should be the first thing. That way
when you're working until four am you can just come up here and crash rather
than going back to Kelly's."

"This is your apartment, Elizabeth."

"I wouldn't have it without you, Lucky, so don't be stupid. I
crash at your place; you crash at mine. That's just the way it is."

Ned kicks back in the most comfortable chair in the living
room. The newspaper is open in front of him so anyone looking at the chair would
see the open paper and a pair of bare hairy muscular legs in house slippers.
Yesterday they hadn't slept in but rather gone over to Skye's allegedly to help
with the deck but actually to give Kristina some duck time. Today is Alice's day
off and it's Daddy day, a tradition that had been implemented early on. With
Kristina, he had a chance to do all things he'd dreamed of doing with Brook
Lynn. First Kristina kept track of his sit ups propped up on his thighs and
playing a game of peek of boo every time he sat up. Kristina had told him all
about her week from her playpen while he'd showered. Then they'd had breakfast
and now the Sunday ritual of reading the paper.

"What next, Kristina?" Ned asks. "Food or Travel?" Kristina
grabs hold of one of the sections crumpling it in her drool moistened hand.
"Travel. Good choice." It's a good thing his baby girl is already strongly right
handed. It makes the choosing less of a surprise. "The Food section will be much
more interesting once you have more teeth." Ned gives her a kiss on the top of
the head and then starts reading elements of the travel section to the baby.

Maybe it was working on the deck yesterday but Faith had
gotten inspired to start working on the exterior of the cottage, filling the
planter boxes with herbs, plants and even a few flowers-- not a rose bush in the
bunch, she'd leave that to Lila. Since this is Ned's Daddy time she absolutely
refused to have anything to do with either Ned or the baby. They are on their
own and she can work on her own projects. She hadn't been able to have a garden
since before Roscoe died. It feels good to be digging in the dirt again after
all this time. She'd never looked back after he disappeared, never stepped foot
back in the house that she'd shared with him. Fowler had closed the house put
everything in storage while she'd still been at Mercy. All the meetings with the
guys had been held at Fowler's apartment since she lived in hotels until hooking
up with Ned.

"Manny?" Bruno has the day off and had gone to the movies so
Manny is staying close to Faith and the baby. He's wearing his ear piece so he
can hear anything that goes on down at the gate to give the family plenty of
warning.

"Yeah, Faith?" Manny looks up from where he is sniffing at the
last pot of geraniums that Faith had him line the steps up to the front door.

"Hang this one high out of the baby's reach. Nice sunny spot."
Faith dusts the soil from her gloves. "I really need to get a greenhouse. It's a
tropical plant." She worries.

"What is it?" Manny looks at the wimpy looking vine that Faith
had started to train with some florist wire up the supports of the hanging
basket.

"Rosary Pea. A climbing vine and a few other things."

"What's that? What they make rosaries out of?"

"You could." Faith agrees. "But probably only if you go with
the adage that The Lord Helps those that Help Themselves rather than Six of
Ten."

"What do you mean Six of Ten?"

"Thou shalt not kill. Out of the reach of the Baby, Manny. One
seed is lethal to an adult if prepared properly." It isn't her preferred poison,
but Rosary Pea would work in a pinch if you didn't mind the person dying in
agony puking up blood. It's kind of hard to miss when dealing with the body--
the only way it could be accidental would be if the person had a habit of going
for wilderness walks and nibbling on the plants. Swallow one of the seeds and
you'd probably be fine as long as the seed coat isn't broken in anyway; it would
pass right thru the body like a kernel of corn. But chewed or ground into paste
it would be lethal.

"You got it, Faith." Manny carefully eyes the decorative
hanging basket. As he hangs it from a sunny corner of the house. "Uh... Faith?
How many of these are you know..." He makes a slashing motion across his throat.

"Poisonous?" Faith looks at the various containers that she'd
potted up and smiles. "Not many. All the ones by the back door are herbs for the
kitchen. But on the big deck I wanted some greenery to soften things up."

"Soften things up. Right." Manny nods.

During Daddy time, calling for Alice's help is also a big
no-no. Even though Alice is just out in the garage with her head under the hood
of the car. Alice has a list of deliveries of things that were coming for the
car and couldn't really leave. Ned had been bad when Alice first started and
interfered with her first Sunday off. Every Sunday after that Alice had left the
property until this one. Ned knows he is on notice. It's better to have Alice
here in case of emergency, so he isn't going to call on her unless it is one.

Alice and Bruno aren't the only one with the day off-- half of
the guys are gone for the day. The other half had been gone yesterday. Faith
always liked to make sure there was plenty of coverage and with the exception of
the guy at the gate all the rest of the guys had the run of the place as long as
they kept in constant contact. Which meant most of the guys on the property are
hounding Alice about what she's doing. And sure enough-- just as Faith had
predicted-- they came bearing gifts: wheels, tires, stereo and other
miscellaneous items.

Dillon had gone into work, once summer started he'd have
regular days off but until then he's working six days a week when you included
school. Yesterday had been his day off and that had been spent over at Skye's
place. Course with Georgie there it was probably where he'd wanted to spend his
day off anyway. Yep, it was shaping up to be a nice quiet Sunday.

"Hello, Mrs. Hardy."

Audrey straightens from where she is cleaning out her garage.
In her younger wilder days she'd be swearing at being caught unaware but decades
of raised expectations have her biting her tongue and only thinking what she'd
love to say. "Hello Mr. Lansing."

"Mrs. Hardy," Ric pauses significantly to gather his thoughts.
"Liz and I have had a misunderstanding... and the only way we can clear it up is
if we can just sit down and talk. It's not just us involved anymore, Mrs. Hardy.
I know about my baby." His face is earnest and kind-- trustworthy.

The fact of it is, Mrs. Hardy hasn't seen such an instantly
trustworthy face since Dr. Ryan Chamberlain. You never quite forget the lesson
that ended with being beaten to death's door. Audrey takes a shallow breath to
camouflage her sudden fear. "Elizabeth never told me it was your baby, Mr.
Lansing." God will understand. Steve would understand. Elizabeth is afraid of
this man. "I love my Granddaughter, Mr. Lansing." Then Audrey continues and
lies thru her teeth. "But there is something you should know-- Elizabeth is...
promiscuous, Mr. Lansing. If she's told you it's your baby then I'm sure that's
possible." Audrey makes sure it sounds as if it's very unlikely.

"Elizabeth would never cheat on me." Ric protests. But there
is a sinking feeling in his stomach. Elizabeth never told him she was pregnant--
let alone that it's his baby.

"Did you ever ask?"

"Excuse me?"

"Elizabeth is promiscuous,
Mr. Lansing, not dishonest. She
considers it part of her artistic temperament. " Audrey shrugs. "Or it could be a
backlash against a father than never paid attention to her but always to her
sister Sarah whom was held up as perfection. Now if you'll excuse me, I really
need to get back to this. There is a truck coming to haul off any of the useable
items tomorrow." Audrey watches as Ric walks back to his car. She isn't
surprised when there is a hand on her shoulder after Ric is gone. "That was a
mistake, Lucky. He'll come after Elizabeth harder now."

"He'll have to go thru me,
Mrs. H." Lucky reminds her quietly.

"If I didn't believe that, Lucky, I never would have gone
along with your plan." Audrey looks up at him. "He's not right, Lucky. I know
what you told me. I know what you told me he did to Carly, to Courtney. I don't
want him anywhere near my granddaughter. But what he did to them wasn't...
personal, not really. If he gets his hands on Elizabeth-- she can't hide-- not
in her condition, Lucky: prenatal vitamins, checkups... And we're talking about
Elizabeth-- she'll run out of cerulean blue in the middle of a painting..."

Knowing everything that Mrs. Hardy is saying is true, Lucky
winces. "I'll shut him down, Mrs. H. Everything that Ric did brought up stuff for
Elizabeth. Stuff about Tom." Lucky says awkwardly. "I just want to give her a
little more time. Getting the apartment ready will keep her busy, give her
something else to focus on. I'll make sure she doesn't run out of paint. But
maybe it's time you started patronizing the Outback on a more regular basis."

The reality of working for yourself is that you never really
get a day off. Even when she'd been working at the DA's office she'd come in to
do on Saturday what had piled up all week long. Dara reminds herself. Sunday
always ended up being the day for cleaning house, doing laundry and running
errands. Getting everything done in one day that would have to last all week
long. Dara looks around her apartment. It is a peaceful retreat... or at least
as peaceful as she could keep it without actually having anything living in it.
There couldn't be any plants or pets. Plants had to be kept at the office since
that's where she spends most of her week. And pets... that would just be cruel.
She'd tried fish for while and even that hadn't worked. Now there is just the
tank with the pump running to give a little bit of atmosphere. Instead there are
colorful prints on the walls, dishes of potpourri, candles and the best stereo
she could afford ten years ago. Should probably upgrade but frankly she didn't
have time to go shopping-- and a stereo is something you have to hear before you
buy.
She figured out ages ago that online and catalogue shopping is the way to go for
most things. Do the shopping on your lunch hour over a sandwich packed from home
and have everything delivered to the office. No immediate gratification but real
life had a way of convincing anyone that reached adulthood that delayed
gratification is the only kind you get most of the time. Course there had to be
a balance between achievement and being a caged rat going round on a wheel and
never getting anywhere. The difference between being her own boss and being a
cog in the District Attorney's office.
Course seeing how the other half lived... you couldn't exactly call them the
idle rich: Stefan, AJ, Skye and Lydia. All of them rich as hell and you couldn't
pay her to have their lives or the trouble that went along with. Even if it
meant that she had to clean out her own fridge. It's a chore she'd learned the
hard way to not skip. Because she spent so little time at home, the milk with a
few days left on it went down the sink. Any leftover take out cartons went into
the garbage along with the contents of the crisper. The contents of the crisper
got to be an oxymoron but it wouldn't be a big appliance selling point if they
called it a slimer instead, even though it would be truer advertising.
But everything else is done. The apartment dusted, vacuumed and scrubbed as
needed. Now just a few errands and maybe, just maybe a bit of a book read for
fun. Gathering up the garbage to dump it on her way out, Dara opens the door
without looking and almost runs into someone just about to knock on her door. "Mrs.
Quartermaine?"

"I'm sorry to disturb you on your day off, Dear. But the
utmost discretion is needed."

"Just let me drop this off." Dara goes over to the garbage
Shute and drops the bag in. "Come on in, Mrs. Quartermaine. How may I help you?"

"This is getting to be a regular thing. The neighborhood is
going to start to talk." Mac says wryly as he passes Taggart a sponge to wash
the other side of the car.

"At least I brought my car this time. You called this
meeting?" Taggart takes the sopping wet sponge and starts scrubbing down his
boss' car. In some lines of work this would be considered and abuse of power...
but since they couldn't talk at the station after Capelli this was the handiest
way. "Hear you offered the Spencer kid the PI business."

"Yeah, he'll be good at it. Not as many rules." Mac grabs the
hose and rinses off one section and moves on to another. "Actually though I
wanted to fill you in on what Skye Quartermaine told me yesterday. Or rather
what she gave me."

"What's that?"

"Pictures... surveillance pictures that her... what the hell
would you call Coleman?"

"Bad Judgment?"

Mac smirks at that but goes on. "Coleman did a little search
on one of his tenants at Jake's and came up with surveillance photos."

"Of Skye?"

"Skye, Sonny, Jax, Ric Lansing."

Taggart winces. "Capelli's replacement."

"Maybe his killer." Mac agrees.

"Stalking horse. We won't be able to use any of it." Marcus
shakes his head. He takes the hose and rinses the section he'd been working on.
That about finishes up Mac's car. Gathering up all the supplies he goes over to
his own vehicle.

Mac takes a minute to make sure all the windows are rolled up
on the lieutenant's car. "If it were just about anybody but Coleman. No way is
he acting as an agent of the police." Mac counters.

"Yeah, anyone who knows him would know that. But a jury-- they
don't get all the facts-- just the ones that the judge figures are
admissible. And besides how do we know that Coleman didn't take the pictures
himself? He's more than capable." Taggart counters.

"Works for me. Pictures fell into our laps along with some
rumors... we work from there." Mac suggests. "Capelli was dirty but he was a
cop. We don't catch this guy it's declaring open season. We've got enough of a
credibility problem in this town as it is."

"Mac? Is Lieutenant Taggart staying for dinner?" Georgie calls
out from the front porch.

"Just going to grill some seafood." Mac offers. "You're more
than welcome."

"Shrimp on the barbie? How could I pass that up?"

"Welcome home, Mrs. Quartermaine."

Set back on her own two feet, Lydia leans into AJ's embrace
and kisses him in the open doorway of the Brownstone. "Say it again." She
demands.

"I think that last one might be too long for most forms of
identification." Lydia says wryly. Although it does kind of roll off the tongue.

"Lydia K. Quartermaine."

"Definite possibilities." Lydia agrees. She takes a half step
back so that AJ can finish coming into the brownstone and shut the door. "I
can't believe you arranged all that for a Sunday afternoon."

AJ shrugs. "We knew we were getting married and already had
the license. It was just a phone call. Tonight, I think, is going to be the last
night that we have to ourselves. Things will start to get interesting tomorrow--
when we go public. You do realize that the consensus of opinion will be that you
are crazy?"

"For marrying you?" Lydia guesses. Shrugging, she dismisses
the concerns of the masses. "Then they don't know you the way I do." She takes
AJ's hand and starts up the stairs. Looking over her shoulder she adds. "And
they better never."